The streaming video wars enter a new phase this month, with Sinclair Broadcasting subsidiary Diamond Holdings Group planning a major marketing push for Bally Sports Plus, an online Direct To Consumer (DTC) platform for their regional sports networks (RSNs). formerly known as Fox Sports Networks.
The marketing blitz will take place in the five markets where Bally Sports Plus soft-launched last month, following Major League Baseball’s All-Star Break, which will take place July 18-21.
The first channels to launch have popular MLB games, with the DTC brands broadcasting the Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. This is likely an exploratory time for Bally Sports to learn more and focus on their remaining RSNs.
This could be another nail in the coffin for cable and satellite companies, which continue to see a significant number of video customers migrating to online over-the-top (OTT) or DTC services like Hulu, NetflixNFLX
, Disney+. A major expansion into online esports is expected as Disney invests heavily in its ESPN+ platform.
After USC and UCLA dropped out of the Pac-12 conference in favor of the Big Ten conference, Apple bid for a package of Big Ten games, competing against AmazonAMZN
Prime Video, ESPN and NBC. AppleAAPL
and Amazon Prime are expected to become increasingly aggressive in bidding for sports rights, as traditional broadcast and cable networks will not have the financial clout that these online giants have unless they find a way to collect the rights fees through their own online Video to monetize platforms.
Historically, RSNs were at the “Basic” tier of cable, meaning that if you subscribed to anything other than the cheap “Lifeline” pack, you could see all of your local teams when they were in season. This helped cable and satellite operators retain subscribers to their increasingly expensive video packages, as even those consumers who didn’t like watching sports helped subsidize cable bills.
For example, the average wholesale price per month for the RSNs launched as a streaming product cost the cable or satellite operator $5/month, meaning you were paying somewhere around $7-8/month at retail, even if you’ve never watched the channel.
The new Bally Sports Plus channels will appeal to the most avid fans at a price point of $19.99/month or $189.99/year, meaning cable and satellite operators will find it increasingly difficult to impose significant price increases on video consumers , like some of these most avid RSN fans are moving to OTT services.
Sinclair has publicly stated that they will go after people who have already cut the cord, and they don’t think it will have a significant impact on future cord cutting. They will market younger consumers with an interactive app that will eventually allow them to play fantasy and prediction games for prizes, get advanced statistics and compete for prizes.
